A new research led by Dr. Shoufeng Lan claims that safer, less costly generic pharmaceuticals could be produced via magneto-chiral control at the atomic level.
Claims made by Dr. Lan and team:
Recent research published in the journal Nature Communications by Dr. Shoufeng Lan, assistant professor in the J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and his team suggests the use of electromagnetic control over the synthesis of chiral compounds at an atomic level. According to the team, their new research could potentially make it easier to isolate active ingredients in a pharmaceutical preparation and eliminate an inactive or even toxic counterpart as is the case of ibuprofen and other commonly prescribed generic pharmaceuticals.
Basis of the research:
Basis of this research, according to Dr. Lan, is the same concept that the research by winners of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was based on. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001 was divided, one half jointly to William S. Knowles and Ryoji Noyori for their work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions and the other half to K. Barry Sharpless for his work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions.
Addressing chirality—which employs an existing chiral object, a catalyst molecule, to transfer chirality to the required mirror image form as the final product was the rationale of this research.
Chirality and Asymmetric Synthesis:
Lan used the example of a human hand to simply convey the notion of chirality (derived from the Greek word Kheir, meaning “hand”), observing that a mirror image of your hand could not be perfectly superimposed over the original.
Homochirality of life is a phenomenon which talks about how all living organisms on the Earth consist of only left-handed i.e. L-amino acids and right-handed i.e., D-sugars, but not their mirrored counterparts. This phenomenon is the ultimate form of asymmetric synthesis.
The reason why all living organisms make use of one only chiral form of a substance is that chiral compounds in living cells are produced in only one chiral form. This is because the enzymes that synthesize them are also chiral molecules. To simply explain the homochirality of origin of life, to digest the earliest life form, the organisms that ate it would need to have the same selective enzymes. If all of our food consisted solely D-sugars, our bodies would also be composed of those similar D-sugars. So, if solely L-amino acids are used at the bottom of the food chain, homochirality will propagate to every organism in the food chain.
By identifying a successful method of using chirality and the asymmetrical synthesis to create new versions of already existing structures for items such as ibuprofen, better versions of generic pharmaceuticals could be created at a lower cost than currently available. These versions would also have significantly reduced toxicity. The reason behind current higher costs can be attributed to the purification process which can be eliminated via the new process.
Applications:
This paper demonstrates an extremely strong excitonic magneto-chiral anisotropic effect in twisted bilayer van der Waals crystal of Tungsten Sulfide. Magneto-chiral effect is a physical process that merges chirality and magnetism. This anisotropic effect has an atomic scale magnitude, which makes it conceivably possible to master an asymmetric synthesis or asymmetric self-assembling if correctly employed.
The team's study has the potential to revolutionise the arena by spawning a new generation of biological, chemical, and pharmacological applications. It is expected that this demonstration will lead to the creation of chiral seeds at the atomic scale. Based on this, the researchers further hope to transfer the chirality utilising cutting-edge technologies such as a metal-organic framework to create chiral materials from nanoscales to macroscales.
Examples:
Escitalopram belongs to a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and is the pure S-enantiomer (single isomer) of the racemic bicyclic phthalane derivative citalopram. Marketed as Lexapro, Escitalopram Oxalate is the most often prescribed pharmaceutical in the United States, with more than 25 million prescriptions.
By asymmetrically synthesising only the active component of racemic Lexapro—researchers may be effective in decreasing the drug's side effects which include nausea, fatigue, dizziness, insomnia and decreased libido.
Setbacks:
In order for the research to have successful large-scale applications as desired, researchers must first overcome the practical need of implementing this magnetic effect on asymmetric synthesis at room temperature. Even in a high magnetic field or at temperatures as low as -450 degrees Fahrenheit (-268 degrees Celsius), this effect is currently quite mild. At room temperature, in the visible spectral region, the magneto-chiral anisotropy is merely at 0.1% and thus hinders many applications.
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Content by: Pravajja Vaddikar
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